Look Who is STANDING

Its been going on for a couple weeks now, but starting to get pretty frequent these days. Grayson is pulling up on everything. He has a sort of banshee call when he pulls himself up (think incredible hulk yell) almost like "I am UP now!" He has sort of started scooting along furniture as well...I think he is going to be ahead of his siblings in walking. Usually just content playing with a pile of toys, he is so easy going we lose him half the time!

Went on an adventure to monkey joes today. I made lunch because I really don't want them eating pizza and like $10 pizza at that! Good for them to run off some energy! Almost everyone was asleep by the time we got home :)

Kenna helped me make oreo brownies for daddy's poker game tonight. Other than that, lazy saturday, recuperating after my work trip!

SOOO Proud

I missed McKenna's TIP testing for Karate last week. I was on a three day trip to Texas for a meeting, but she did SO amazing. Once every 6 weeks they get tested to see if they have mastered the skills necessary to receive a stripe on their current belt. She is obviously a white belt, but they can earn 3 stripes before they move on to the next belt category. To do this, they have to do a kata in front of all their peers (a routine that encompasses between 5-10 different moves.) The one she had to do started with a courtesy bow, then a 3 punch rotation facing all 4 walls. That transitioned into a hook kick, then roundhouse kick, upward block and punch. She knew the whole thing...and did so well! She had to line up with 30 kids and they each did it separately. At the end they rated all the kids. First they called all the kids that scored over 9 (on a 10 point scale.) There were 4 kids, and she was one of them! They spoke about how hard work and practice can make everyone have a high rating. She did so well. I spoke to her that night and she was beaming with pride....just loved it!! I hope that this mentality translates to other things in life as well!

Parent Teacher Conference

McKenna is doing SOOOO well in school. Mrs. Stevenson said she is extremely impressed with her reading, writing and math skills. She says that McKenna has a desire to learn and work hard and that she always has very thoughtful responses in class. She needs to work on letting others have a turn to share. Mrs. Stevenson says that when they are reading as a group McKenna gets impatient and blurts out the word before other kids have a chance to sound it out. Part of me is like, "Nice, figuring things out really fast" and the counselor, inclusive side of me is like "everyone needs their turn and an opportunity to learn!" So we are talking about blurting and voice level at home. But we really couldn't be more proud of McKenna.

It is amazing how fast she has learned this year. She can read books that have 2-3 sentences a page, write short "stories" do basic addition and subtraction...I really am so very impressed at her progress. She really loves art, drawing on the computer and playing math games. My wish for her would be to always have a love of learning and to do her best in everything she does! So proud of you little bug!

On a fun note, Kenna has been complaining about the tangles she gets in her hair. She has wavy hair in the back and HATES combing it. So, we got it all chopped off! Cut 5 inches...she looks so grown up!!

S'mores!

Kind of a grainy pic...but the kids had fun with the small bonfire daddy built. S'mores for everyone!

Baby Shower

Charlene and I hosted a baby shower for a friend of ours. She runs the Best Buy in south Des Moines and is due in 3 weeks! I could not believe how good she looked! I always love to do the cooking part, and Char likes the logistics and party hosting part...so we make a good team ;)

pink brownie truffles, spicy chicken tortilla roll ups and veggie platter

raspberry punch, fried macaroni and cheese balls, potato rounds, pecan cheesecake bars and raspberry mousse

also made this delish onion loaf...yay pinterest!

 Angie seemed to have a great time and got the CUTEST clothes!!!

DMU Interview

Chelsey came to visit this last weekend. She was here for her medical school interview! Luckily they will let us know in a few weeks if she is in (sure she is based on how she was feeling after the interview! :)

We had a good time going to "The Vow." Pretty much the sappiest chick flick I have been to in a while, but sure that Josh was relived he didn't have to go. I really liked it! We also got to look at some potential housing options for her and a few for mom in the event she wants to live here (at least part time!)

She also was a HUGE help in getting ready for a baby shower I was co-hosting..who knew food prep would be so labor intensive!

Was so fun to see her as always, my kids really miss her after having her all to their selves this summer!! Good luck Chelsey, hopefully we will soon be neighbors!!

Isn't she cute all dressed up? I would totally pick her to go to my school!

Horn's Ferry Hideaway

I was working in Dallas all last week. I got in Friday night and Josh came and picked me up from the airport. I had planned a little getaway for the two of us and didn't tell Josh what we were doing. I booked a little cabin off of Red Rock Lake near Pella. Its called Horn's Ferry Hideaway. Such a cute little place! It is built by the old Horn's Ferry route and bridge. The bridge collapsed in the late 80s but it is still there for pedestrians to walk across. I am sure it is awesome in the non winter months. There is a bald eagle reserve nearby, lots of hiking and bike trails, and the lake is just a few feet from the cabin. It was so nice and cozy with a fireplace that kept the cabin nice and toasty. There was a double jetted tub, small kitchen and it was all brand new. We didn't use the screened in porch or BBQ, but maybe next time ;)

That night we drove into pella and had a great meal at a Greek restaurant, and drove back there for breakfast and ate at the windmill cafe. On Saturday we drove to Jordan Creek and did some shopping and saw Safe House, pretty good movie.

Was GREAT to get away for even just a little while. We sat at breakfast and watched a family eating. They had three kids about the same age as ours. We were laughing as they kept making them sit down, correcting bad behaviors, telling them to eat...we just sat there and enjoyed our breakfast...it was surreal!

It was just one big room and a bathroom, cozy little fireplace

Obviously a picture from the summer, not one I took, but you get the idea

Kaldera restaurant in Pella - great food and atmosphere and wine!

Little dive we found for breakfast right off the square

We are so lucky that Em watched Kenna and that Gona and Baca helped last week while I was gone AND watched the boys this weekend. So nice to get away and do nothing together...we never get to do that. Happy early Valentine's Day babe :)

SNOW!

It finally snowed the other day! We have had an almost entire winter with very little snow. Finally we had some snow last weekend! It was the great wet kind that was perfect for snowmen and snowballs! Daddy and the kids played outside for a long time and had hot chocolate. This kind of snow is rare in Iowa...usually it snows and freezes into ice before you can play in it!

--Daddy's "Mr. Peanut" snowman--

Family Fun NIght

Family Fun Night was a few weekends ago. I can say it was bittersweet because I volunteered to run the raffle. Little did I know that that meant visiting every business in Ankeny, endless phone calls, emails, follow ups....so glad its over! I did get 65 prizes donated though...and that was a win! That night I took the kids and Josh stayed for an hour before he went to his work party. Luckily Auntie Em and Kade came because handling all three of them with the carnival would have been nuts!

--each grade had a silent auction basket, from scrapbooking to camping themes--

--Kenna and I manning the raffle table. I got prizes like games, massages and photography packages--

 --Kenna enjoying her dinner--

--Zachey ate dessert first--

--one of the games (cakewalk)--

There were tons of games and the kids had fun. I don't think I will help with it next year....so much work! That evening we went to Josh's work party. It is amazing to see how far his company has come in just a year...hard to believe that there were only a handful of people when Josh started. There were like 400 people at the party. They flew in dueling pianos and piano players. Food was good, and fun to meet many of the people that he has been talking about.

Jaffey and Blanket

Meet Zachey's two most prized possessions - Jaffey and Blanket He sleeps with them, watches TV with them, brushes his teeth with them, you get the picture.

Last week he kept saying "Jaffey have boogie nose, mommy, you fix it?" I just thought he was pretending? He is ALWAYS pretending...he pretends he has a little "computer" that he looks at. He pretends that we need to be quiet so we don't wake up the dinosaurs. He pretends that he is a dog, frog, cat, (insert any animal here.) But he kept saying it so insistently that I finally looked at the giraffe.

In doing so, I saw what he was talking about. The string was coming undone on Jaffey's nose!

Well - we will have to fix Jaffey's "boogie nose" aka booger nose. Zachey, you are too cute!

Allie Comes to Play

Two weekends ago Kenna had a play date with her friend Allie. They have been in dance and soccer together and really just have never hung out outside of those activities. Josh usually takes Kenna to dance so he coordinated the play date. They played in the snow (we have only had like a week where we even had any snow!!) had a snack, played dolls and seemed to play really well together! Its funny how Kenna seems to gravitate to friends that hold their own, challenge her and don't cave to her very "in charge" attitude. I love that she chooses strong friends!

Grayson Pics

I feel like my little boy is growing up so fast! I need to take more pictures!!!

This one is what I call "Freddie Kruger" I must have missed a nail and he scratched the heck out of his face! They were gone in a few days.

He is loving his jumping jack. Will bounce in it for hours.

The poor guy has had so many ear infections...it seems that he just gets over one, starts sleeping well again, and gets another one. Hoping that with the antibiotic he is on now will kick it for good!

Look Who is Crawling!!

He beat the other two! I think Kenna crawled at 10 months and Zachey 9....Grayson is just 8 months and on the move!!

Rollin on the RIver

Impromptu dance party. Both Kenna and Zachey are in kindermusik and love to dance. Tina says that Kenna has "music in her blood" I love it :)

McKenna Happenings

Mrs. Stevenson has said that McKenna is a model student. She has won the very prestigious bee award for behavior twice. Only one person per grade wins it a week, so having won it twice is quite the honor! It is rather ironic that on the very day she got her picture taken to put on the beehive wall, we were sent home a "minor slip." These are sent home when students receive a reprimand of some sort. You could tell she was all on edge about it. After the boys went to bed I told her we needed to talk. (She didn't realize I had found it in her bag.) So Josh, Kenna and I had a very grown up conversation about behavior. Apparently, Libby and Kenna both wanted to play with blocks during center time. Sounds as if Kenna pushed Libby first and they kept hitting eachother....yikes. We asked her how she could have better handled it, and she gave us lots of better choices. Then we asked her what she felt an appropriate punishment was. She decided no TV for a week. And I am very certain she learned her lesson. I wrote Mrs. Stevenson and apologized. She ensured us that it was an isolated incident and was two sided. Still wasn't happy to get a behavior report, but seems as if it won't happen again.

On a lighter note, something that had me rolling laughing. We are teaching Zachey big, bigger biggest (he really knows it already, but sometimes fun to put things out of order.) In the car coming home from Eski's I asked Zachey who the biggest kid was, he replies "Kenna!" Then I asked who the smallest kid was he says "Grayson!" Then Kenna says, and Zachey is the middlest! Maybe you had to be there, but I thought it was hilarious!

Karate

Kenna has been talking about karate for a few months. I told her that if she still wanted to do it after Christmas we would look into it (thinking she would forget about it.) Well, she didn't. So, we paid for a "trial class" where they give you a little karate outfit and she gets to try out two sessions with their lead instructor. Man was I impressed! In 30 minutes he talked about goal setting, hard work, respect, and challenging yourself. She ate it up! We were in a little bit of sticker shock when we heard the 6 month price, but thought we would try it out to see if she would stick with it.

I hope she does, I just LOVE what it is teaching her. Already she has incorporated some of the learnings. One thing he focuses on is facing challenges with the attitude of "bring it on" versus - that is too hard. I have already heard her say "bring it on" a few times since last week when I asked her to read me a book that may have been a little challenging :)

It has also been good for her because there are 6 "beginner" classes a week. You can come to whichever two fit your schedule. So, she has a different class each time, with all different skill levels. It was good to see how she handled being the least experienced in the class. She watched others, asked for help and really has quite a good roundhouse kick ;)

this was the night of her white belt "ceremony" 

she has great form when punching (in the middle) 

she needs to learn that accuracy is more important than power - getting there 

looks so cute in her little karate outfit (that is wayyyyy too big ;)

Leftover Picture

I don't think I ever posted this picture from a fun night we had at the Andersens? It was us, Stones, them, and Montegnas. Fun to see how all of the kids are getting so big! They definitely outnumber us now....9 of them!

Wreaths

I wish I had taken a picture of both of these, but somehow only managed to capture one. Kenna and I thought it would be fun to make her two best girlfriends (Chloe and Peyton) wreaths this year for Christmas. But not Christmas wreaths...ones they can hang in their room. So we bought a 12" wire wreath form and a ton of different ribbons. Chloe's was yellow, silver and pink. Peytons is pink, silver and purple. Then Kenna painted a little letter for each of them and we tied a gazillion knots. I think it turned out really cute, and the girls seemed to like them!!

Silliness and Fondue

Just some funny pictures from life lately. I have been spending my "days off" preparing for my substitute teaching gig in March (sub-ing for a counselor at the elementary level.) I am also picking McKenna up from school everyday, which has been both wonderful and challenging as I try to mute my conference call run up to the school, get her, run home, find something for her to do and unmute. She goes back to YMCA afterschool care the middle of February because I have a lot of traveling that month...and there really is no way Josh can get her.

I also had a great date with Zachey the other day. We went to the library and played with the new lego table. Then off to the park (it was 60 DEGREES in January!) Also had some great time with Kenna. I took her and Peyton to the muppet movie last weekend. Pretty hilarious! There was lots of adult humor, I would totally recommend it!!

Below is a picture of Zachey pretending to be Rylee. He is really into pretending these days, dinosaurs, superman, cars, whatever is laying around. He has started talking as if he is the primary caregiver of his giraffe "jaffey." "Jaffey sad mom" or "Jaffey weally tired." So cute!

Also last weekend we had an impromptu fondue night. Luckily I had some frozen Gruyere and Fontina cheese in the freezer, so whipped up a cheese fondue. Cut apples, bread, peppers, broccoli and carrots for the appetizer. Then we had pork chops as a main course and finished with chocolate fondue for dessert with marshmallows, pretzels, and bananas. The kids weren't a fan of the cheese, probably because it was made with white wine, but they definitely loved the dessert!!

Grayson is doing a good job of sitting on his own now. He still topples when he isn't paying attention. This was a cute picture because Kenna is his favorite person in the whole world. No one can make him laugh like her. Also, you can see my new favorite pictures in the background. We got 11x14s of them and hung them on the wall. Hopefully will be able to update each time we have a photo session :)

More Christmas Pictures

Some pictures from the holidays that were sent to me after my posts.

Grayson opening a gift at Gona's 

We got these gloves as a white elephant gift, Zachey LOVED the "globs" 

 Emmi got everyone socks, YAY socks!

Kenna smiling through the silly glasses 

What a fabulous Christmas :)